Jennifer Hex loves gymnastics. There's this feeling of adrenaline when she's flying through the air and the satisfaction of a perfect landing. Her hair isn't a problem, either; no one judges the best gymnast in the class that much, even if she has bright pink streaks in her long, black hair.

Martial arts is something else she loves. So what if her nickname is Jinx? (She kind of radiates bad luck, if you can tell from, well… "Jinx.") It all works out anyways when her opponent trips and she flips him/her in midair. But she doesn't rely on bad luck to get her there; no, she has real skill. She's evenly matched with her best friend Jade and second best only to Richard Grayson, who is a crazy perfectionist and slightly antisocial.

Not that she's particularly social, either.

Not that it matters when she can easily take down anybody who criticizes her.

Admittedly, she loves art, too. Sketching is a real passion of hers. She draws faces and plants and faraway lands and creatures. She doesn't have to be tough when it comes to art, either, not like in martial arts or gymnastics where she has to be strong and competitive. She can be a soft, giggly girl doodling unicorns for once in her sharp, sarcastic life, and who's going to judge her for it? Her sketchpad? Her drawing pencils? Her kneaded eraser? No, art is an easy escape from reality for Jennifer.

Now… school? That's something she doesn't really love. A few subjects she can deal with, but most teachers are completely insane, and, well, she hates work. Some people say they like school because they can see their friends, but her closest friend, Jade Nguyen, is in her gymnastics and martial arts classes, so that doesn't help at all.

And anyways, at school she has to see her horrible cousins Seymour, Mo, Manny, Billy, and Kyle. Seymour is an alright person, she supposes, but who names their kid Mo?

Well, Mo is short, like his name, and extremely irritating. She has to put up with him in school because he's a "child prodigy" and skipped into her grade. Big whoop. He's a loud and annoying pest who messes around making "inventions" too much. His nickname Gizmo is better than his real name, at least.

His brother, Manny, on the other hand (ugh, their parents were horrible at naming them), is supposed to be a few years ahead, but he'd been held back so many times that Jennifer finally caught up to him. He's slow and stupid and eats all her chocolate whenever he visits. Not to mention he's built like a giant. How on Earth is anyone that big? Well… that must be how he made it on the wrestling team, despite his lack of an actually operating brain.

Billy is fast-talking, annoying, and perhaps just as stupid as Manny is, even if they don't live under the same roof like Manny and Mo.

And Kyle never says anything; he just sulks silently around school wearing all black. He is so unbearably boring that Jennifer wants to hit her head against the wall whenever she's left alone with him for extended periods of time.

So there. Her cousins weren't worth dealing with.

Well, she supposes school is the only place where she can see Rachel Roth (better known as Raven), but they aren't even that close of friends. They've bonded over their mutual love of reading, hatred of popular people, and their quick, sarcastic wit. But Rachel runs in different circles – she's in the "Teen Titans," a group of kids involving a bubbly, over-excited and frankly naïve cheerleader (Kori Anders); an antisocial rich kid who never takes off his sunglasses (Richard Grayson- the martial arts one. He has a giant stalker crush on Kori); a huge African American guy obsessed with cars and other machinery (Victor Stone); and a short, energetic vegetarian who thinks his jokes are funny when they're so corny that it makes you lose faith in humanity (Garfield Logan).

Jennifer is almost sure Rachel likes that short weirdo Garfield, and maybe they'd be cute together, when she's not yelling at him for being stupid or shutting him out.

And Jennifer dated Victor before (It is mostly just one dance; no big deal.), but that turned out to be somewhat of a big mistake as she realized that she didn't actually like him. It was a peaceful breakup, but she has a hard time looking him in the eye without cringing anymore. And that makes it hard when she has to go to football games (He's the captain of the football team.) to cheerlead.

Cheerleading is something else she hates about school. Her old friend Karen Beecher (and Victor's new girlfriend) had convinced her to join, and, while she's good at it, she isn't exactly a cheerful type of person. But she's loud and she's flexible, and that's all that Karen believes she needs to be a "good" cheerleader. (Jennifer doesn't believe it.)

Another thing school has that she can do without: boys. She can be considered a feminist, if you squint and think hard about it. She believes in the power of girls, and that, at the very least, they're equal to boys. (She develops this way of thinking from growing up with her good-for-nothing cousins.) She can play sports better than most guys anyways, and she's a lot smarter than them, too. Guys that claim girls can't do something they think boys can - well, she'll smack then in the face. Maybe that'll clear their heads.

Okay, so maybe some girls aren't all that. I mean, look at Garth Aqua's swooning fan club. They give women a bad rep.

Anyways, one guy she'd gladly be rid of is Roy Harper. He's cocky and arrogant and a total womanizer. He always flirts with Jade and she gets so annoyed… almost too irritated to be truly upset. Almost for show. Almost like she does like him back. Almost as if she and the carrot top… No, that's disgusting. But Jennifer sees it.

Another guy that she wouldn't mind having gone – Xavier Red. He's a total playboy, too. He's got that "dark" look going for him, with his black tee shirts with skulls and sagging black skinny jeans with chains. Ugh. Who even wears those? Well… Xavier does, apparently.

And he drives a motorcycle, like Richard.

Jennifer has always secretly wanted to drive a motorcycle.

But, who bothers Jennifer more than all the worst boys combined? Why, Wally West of course. Surprise, surprise – he's another flirt. At least he's not a total manwhore like Roy, but he flirts with any girls in his general vicinity. And, for some reason, it's mostly Jennifer.

"Hey, Jinxie, looks like I'm going to be your lab partner for the rest of the year!" (Note the use of her stupid nickname. That's what he mostly calls her.)

"Um… Jinx… was I supposed to mix those? The solution is kind of bursting into flames…"

"Sorry, Slowpoke, but your mile time will never beat mine! I'm on track and field, remember?"

"Cheerleader, huh? Is it mainly so you'll see me in action? Can't wait to see you in a skirt for once."

And on and on and on… Jennifer is getting tired of it.

"Shut up, Wallace."

"You know how I said I hate my name? Well… it sounds really good when you say it. I don't hate it so much anymore."

And that annoying smile of his! Is he ever not happy? It infuriates Jinx to no end. It's not even humanly possible to be that excited all the time, is it?

"Jinx, look at my test grade!"

"An 88%? I got 96%."

"See? I'm only 8 points behind the smartest girl in class!"

"Shut up, Wally."

"Aw, you know you love me!"

"In your dreams."

"That sounds like a perfect dream. D'you dream about it, Jinxie? Don't lie! There's no need to be ashamed."

And what makes it worse is that his sunny happy personality is contagious. Like… like some sort of disease or infection or something. The more time Jinx spends around him, the more cheerful she is. And she's never cheerful. She's a realist, not some kind of breezy and deluded optimist!

"Jinx, Jinx, look at my test!"

"A 93%? That's only one percent behind me!"

"I know!"

"Congratulations!... I mean, when did you get so smart?"

"Ever since I've been learning from you, Jinxie!"

And he never takes anything seriously! It's irritating! It's aggravating! It's positively unbearable! Jinx has never been so annoyed in her life!

"Wally!"

"Hmm?"

"Stop messing around! Your coach is looking for you!"

"Aw, but I don't wanna go to track and field practice today, Jinxie! Why don't you stay and keep me company?"

"You love running!"

"I just don't feel like it today, you know? Why waste a beautiful sunny day when you can just relax and enjoy it?"

"So you can get good recommendations for college. So you can give your best. So you can succeed in life. Because you're passionate about what you're doing."

"I can be passionate about track some other day! C'mon, I know you don't want to be cheerleading right now."

"I-"

*hopeful look* "Yeah?"

"Aren't you supposed to be the goody-two-shoes here? The always on time, super smart Wally West?"

"Aw, you think that highly of me?"

"No."

"Well, aren't you bad-girl (insert wink here) Jennifer 'Jinx' Hex, who would gladly skip out on cheerleading practice and who doesn't need to study but can get by on natural smarts and wit?"

"…"

"Jinx?"

"You think that highly of me?"

"… yeah."

And all the girls around him! God, doesn't he have standards? Morals? He's just trailing girls after him like balloons. It's unethical and downright disgraceful! Jennifer really wants to pull him aside and just yell at him for it whenever she sees some desperate… floozy running after him.

"Hey, Wally, you know the dance that's coming up?" *giggle*

"Yeah?"

(Jinx is practically screaming in frustration inside. Wally is such an oblivious idiot!)

"So… I was wondering if you were going with anyone?"

"Uh…"

"And if you weren't, you know, you can always ask me." *insert batting of eyelashes here*

"Actually, I was gonna go with Jennifer here."

"WHAT?!" (Said by both girls present)

"I am NOT-" (Jennifer)

"Yeah, so, see you later Cindy! Bye!"

And that was a slightly bearable situation! It gets even worse sometimes; can you believe that? No, Jennifer can definitely do without Wally in her life.

"Wow, Jennifer… You look… really pretty in that dress. Gorgeous. Beautiful."

"Thanks, I guess."

"I am so glad you agreed to this date right now."

"It's not a date. It's just a dance. And that's it."

"Mhmm. But you said yes."

(Was she blushing? No, no, NO.) "Only because you're my friend and you needed someone to help you get rid of Cindy. Nothing else."

"So… we're friends now?"

"Sure, carrot top."

"Isn't that what you call Roy?"

"Keep moving, ketchup-and-mustard, or I'm leaving."

"Yes, ma'am."

Okay, so maybe Jennifer might just feel like something's missing from her life if Wally's gone. Maybe. Probably not. Uh… erase the "not"?

"Thanks… kind of."

"Is it alright for a first date? I mean going to see a movie is a little cliché, sorry. Should I have done something a little more original? I mean-"

*amused* "Wally, you're rambling again. Do I really make you that nervous?"

"No! I mean yes! Um… haha, I'm not nervous. Why would I be nervous?"

"Yeah, why are you nervous? You've been on tons of first dates before."

"Uh… because this is the only one that truly matters?"

"Good answer."

Okay, so fine. Maybe Jennifer can't "do without" Wally West in her life. And maybe he's up there with things she loves.

But she still doesn't love school. That's not gonna change.